Tamper-evident seal for a bottle closure

ABSTRACT

A bottle having a closure and a tamper-evident seal for the closure, with at least one sealing mark applied in an area between the closure and the bottle, so that the sealing mark is destroyed by partially opening the closure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2010001067, filed Feb. 19, 2010, which application claims priority of German Application No. 10 2009 019 362.6, filed Apr. 29, 2009. The entire text of the priority application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates to a bottle having a closure and a tamper-evident safeguard for the closure.

BACKGROUND

Bottles made of plastic, for example, PET, that have a screw closure made of plastic are known from the state of the art, whereby the screw closure has a tamper-evident tape as a tamper-evident safeguard.

The tamper-evident tape runs around the screw closure and forms an extension of the thread of the screw closure. When the screw closure is unscrewed, the tamper-evident tape tears off, so that it becomes clearly evident that the bottle has already been opened once. For this purpose, however, the bottle must then also have a correspondingly long thread turn as well as an edge at which the tamper-evident tape snaps into place during the capping process, which necessitates a greater use of material for the bottle and cap (closure).

In addition, the tamper-evident tape generally does not tear off until the screw closure has been unscrewed through a certain distance. A partial unscrewing of the screw closure by less than the distance needed for tearing off the tamper-evident tape, however, can have as a result the fact that the bottle has already been partially opened (although the screw closure still has an intact tamper-evident tape around the edge). This can result in foods that are in such a bottle perishing without notice, because, e.g., the carbon dioxide can escape from a carbonated beverage and/or oxygen can penetrate.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

One aspect of the present disclosure is to avoid these described disadvantages of the state of the art.

With these characteristics, it is proposed that at least one sealing mark be provided as a tamper-evident safeguard for the closure, whereby this sealing mark is applied in an area between the closure and the bottle in such a way that the sealing mark is destroyed in a particularly visible and irreversible manner by a partial opening of the closure. A sealing mark already breaks with the slightest relative movement between the closure cap and bottle, and consequently ensures that no unnoticed opening can occur. It is furthermore possible in this way to save the thread runs or further function-relevant design details at the mouth and closure needed when a tamper-evident tape is used, which leads to the material savings striven for.

The result that is striven for can already be achieved with a single sealing mark, but it is also possible to apply two or more sealing marks. The solution according to the disclosure can be similarly used for bottles made of glass or plastic, for example, PET.

In this connection, the area between the closure and the bottle describes the area on the outer surface of the bottle that connects directly to the edge of the closure when the bottle is closed, whereby the sealing mark can overlap a portion of the closure and a portion of the bottle.

The preferably point-like sealing mark in the area between the closure and the bottle can, however, also be applied without direct contact with the closure in such a way that it comes into contact with the closure after a slight movement of the closure and is then destroyed.

According to a preferred further development of the disclosure, the sealing mark can be formed from sealing wax. Alternatively, adhesive or further materials with sealing wax-like characteristics can be used. These characteristics are, in particular, the capability to adhere to the packaging materials, quick hardening, a brittleness that guarantees a simple break of the sealing mark when the closure is opened as well as a certain impact resistance thereby, so that it is not possible to inadvertently see the sealing mark as destroyed although the bottle is still intact. The shape of the sealing mark can be formed in various ways. A particularly point-like sealing mark is sufficient for the purpose of the disclosure in general, and it saves material.

According to another preferred further development of the disclosure, the sealing mark can be a sticker. A sticker is simple to apply with conventional labelling techniques.

According to a preferred further development of the disclosure, the sealing mark can be formed from a material that is combined with at least one coloring substance, whereby the color of the sealing mark should preferably form a contrast to the color of the bottle and/or the closure. This allows a destruction of the seal that has already occurred to be clearly recognized. The color dependence on the overall outward appearance of the bottle is likewise conceivable, however.

According to a preferred further development of the disclosure, the sealing mark consists of a material that does not impair a recycling process for the bottle and/or closure material known from the state of the art or that can be separated by a simple process step such as, for example, dissolving or flotation.

According to a preferred further development of the disclosure, the closure can be a screw-on cap (particularly made of plastic) with an internal screw thread.

According to a further development, at least one cut-out can be provided on the screw-on cap, whereby the sealing mark is then applied in the cut-out.

The cut-out can be located on the lower edge of the lateral surface of the screw-on cap. The shape of the cut-out per se can be any shape, particularly, for example, triangular, semi-circular or rectangular. The size of the cut-out is preferably similar to the size of the sealing mark. The sealing mark is preferably formed with direct contact with the closure so that it, for example, overlaps the screw closure, cut-out and outer surface of the bottle. The sealing mark can alternatively also be formed without direct contact with the screw closure as long as it is ensured that the sealing mark is located at least partially in the cut-out on the outer surface of the bottle.

A recess is formed by the cut-out, in which the sealing mark is at least partially formed. This recess offers protection for the tamper-evident safeguard from other damages that have nothing to do with opening the bottle. This has the advantage of improved attachment of the tamper-evident safeguard for a screw closure.

In another further development, at least one projection can be provided on the screw closure, whereby the projection extends from the screw closure's lower edge downwards and comes into contact with the sealing mark during screwing so that the sealing mark is then destroyed.

The disclosure can likewise also be applied to plugging closures, for example, made of cork, glass, metal or plastic or also to snap-on closures.

The hardening of the sealing mark after the application on the bottle can thereby take place, e.g., by simple drying, by the use of hot air or also by means of various radiations such as infrared or UV radiation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the disclosure are described in the following with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an upper portion of a bottle with a tamper-evident safeguard according to a first embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an upper portion of a bottle with a tamper-evident safeguard according to a second embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment 100 of the disclosure. In this embodiment, the bottle 120 is provided with a closure 110 and with a tamper-evident safeguard for the closure 110. The bottle 120 has at least one point-like sealing mark 130 as a tamper-evident safeguard. The sealing mark 130 is applied in an area between the closure 110 and the bottle 120 so that it is visibly and irreversibly destroyed with just a slight relative movement when the closure 110 is at least partially opened. The destruction of the sealing mark 130 is clearly visible to the human eye and cannot be reversed again.

In this embodiment of the disclosure, the sealing mark 130 is, for example, sealing wax and/or an adhesive spot, particularly also combined with a coloring substance. The adhesive that is used can preferably be a hot adhesive.

Furthermore, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the point-like sealing mark 130 is formed in such a way that it overlaps a portion of the closure 110 and a portion of the bottle 120. The closure 110 can be a screw-on cap with an internal screw thread.

In the embodiment 200 shown in FIG. 2, the closure cap 210 has a cut-out 211 on the lower edge. The sealing mark 230 is located at least partially in the cut-out 211 at the outer surface of the bottle 220 and does not necessarily have to be in direct contact with the screw-on cap 210.

According to a third embodiment 300 of the disclosure, shown in FIG. 3, the closure cap 310 has a projection 311 on the lower edge. The sealing mark 330 is applied either with partial overlapping or also without overlapping, directly next to the projection, so that it is destroyed by the projection with the slightest rotation. It is important in the application of the sealing mark 330 without overlapping and directly next to the projection 311 that the sealing mark 330 is applied on the right side of the projection 311 according to FIG. 3, if the closure is unscrewed in the counter-clockwise direction as is customary. The direction of the rotation for opening the closure is indicated by the arrow around the axis of rotation A. Reference number 340 indicates a suggested bottle thread. 

1. Bottle with a closure and with a tamper-evident safeguard for the closure, comprising at least one sealing mark is applied in an area between the closure and the bottle as a tamper-evident safeguard so that the sealing mark is destroyed by a partial opening of the closure.
 2. The bottle according to claim 1, the sealing mark is formed from one of sealing wax, adhesive, and materials having sealing wax-like characteristics.
 3. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the sealing mark overlaps a portion of the closure and a portion of the bottle.
 4. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the sealing mark is an adhesive spot.
 5. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the sealing mark is formed from a material that is combined with at least one coloring substance.
 6. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the closure is a screw-on cap with an internal screw thread.
 7. The bottle according to claim 6, wherein at least one cut-out is provided on the screw-on cap and the sealing mark is formed in such a way that the sealing mark is at least partially located in the cut-out on an outer surface of the bottle when the bottle is closed by the screw closure.
 8. The bottle according to claim 6, wherein at least one projection is formed on the screw-on cap and wherein this projection extends downwards from a lower edge.
 9. The bottle according to claim 8, wherein the sealing mark is applied in such a way that the sealing mark is located at least partially in the direction of rotation for opening the screw closure in an area next to the projection on the outer surface of the bottle when the bottle is closed by the screw closure.
 10. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the closure is a plugging closure.
 11. The bottle according to claim 1, wherein the closure is a snap-on closure.
 12. Screw-on cap for a bottle, comprising at least one cut-out in the lateral surface of the cap, a projection that extends from a lower edge of the cap, and a combination thereof.
 13. The bottle according to claim 5, wherein the color of the sealing marks forms a contrast to the color of the bottle, the closure, or the combination thereof.
 14. The bottle according to claim 10, wherein the plugging closure is a cork. 